I’ve been back in Gaza 4 days now and now hear the familiar roar of a Zionist warplane over Deir al Balah where I live. I was wondering where they were, knew they hadn’t gone away. Now, with the passing war-roar, things seem sickeningly normal here.

Five minutes later another passes over, again north to south. Now for the expected sonic boom or real bomb blast…A minute later and the dissipated roar returns, circling perhaps. Five minutes later, another passing of the warplane’s roar, south to north. Apprehension, apprehension (although in truth, most Palestinians are so accustomed to these intrusive fly-overs they don’t think twice). In Gaza, when one hears a plane’s engines, it is never that of a passenger plane. What’s going to happen, and when? This time? Here again? I recall a year ago during Ramadan when, in the early hours of the morning, we watched rooftop as numerous IOF warplanes flew over us and on to bomb eastern Gaza, returning soon after to bomb the coast a few hundred metres away from us.

Emad tells me that the shock waves of a recent blast in the area blew his brother’s door off its hinges. His brother lives one floor below us.

Two minutes later, the roar is lower, coming from the north. Again, a few minutes later, also from north, progressively louder.

Five minutes later, again from the north.

Although IOF warplanes seem to have paused this psychological torture during the last few days of Ramadan fasting, it’s back to business as usual now.